INSIDE MAN

Vikrant Massey talks about a plethora of facets and personality quirks. Rachit Gupta records his take on darkness, fatherhood and why he chooses to blend in and not stand out.

- Rachit Gupta

Vikrant Massey has quietly built a body of work that resists spectacle and leans instead into lived-in truth. Whether playing an idealistic civil servant, a conflicted young man or a deeply unsettling antagonist, the actor's performances are rooted in observation, empathy and an almost stubborn commitment to authenticity. For Massey, acting is not about method or mimicry but about disappearing into the everyday, becoming the kind of people we pass on the street without a second glance. In this candid conversation, the actor opens up about the emotional toll of playing dark characters like Prem Singh in Sector 36, why certain roles followed him home and led him to therapy, and how becoming a father has fundamentally reshaped his worldview. From the discipline behind intense interrogation scenes to his belief that success and failure deserve equal indifference, Massey reflects on an evolving career driven not by image, but by inner honesty.

DO YOU THINK REALISM HAS ALWAYS BEEN YOUR STRENGTH AS AN ACTOR?

Yes, realism suits me. Storytelling has many ways, there's no right or wrong, but this is what works for me. I try to bring what I derive from real life into my performances. It began way back in Balika Vadhu. It's been almost 16 years, and people still call me Shyam Bhaisa, especially in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Central India. I was 21 or 22 then, and even at that age I tried to keep it grounded because it was a socially relevant, sociopolitical story. I think audiences now expect my characters to be real, grounded, and representative of their aspirations.

HOW DO YOU BRING REALISM TO YOUR PERFORMANCES?